Progress Towards Goals, Mid Year Update

I've always set goals - the accountability gives me focus.  Even when I don't achieve a goal, it's nice to have a written list of what I'd like to do. 

Here are my goals for 2019

• Financial:  DEBT:  Pay off student loans.  Then begin paying off mortgage on rental property.

I'm well on my way to paying off my student loans.  This will likely be done before the end of summer.  

• Personal Improvement:  Lose 20 pounds.

I've done okay so far this year.  I've lost close to 10 pounds.  We cut back on alcohol, which has made a big difference.  Probably cut about 90% of our alcohol consumption.  Now, I may have one beer or one glass of wine a couple times a week.  It's helped my waistline and my pocketbook.

• Simplify:  Get rid of material things I don't use.  Eliminate unnecessary financial accounts.

I closed out my HSA, a savings account, and a credit card.  I'm actively drawing down my Prosper balance.  This week we loaded up a bunch of stuff to take to Goodwill.  It's been 11 months now since I've had a car payment.  Yes, the car is getting older (190,000 miles).  But whenever I get the urge to buy a new car, I remember how nice it is to not have a monthly payment.

• Spending:  Spend less on food by eating out less often.

We are definitely eating out less, and of course when we do eat out, we normally don't buy alcohol anymore.

My Frugal Miser - June Expenses: $5,748

As I've eased into using spreadsheets instead of Quicken, I've been tweaking the reports I create to have a more meaningful look at my income and spending.  For June, I broke down my spending by personal expenses and business expenses.  The reason this is meaningful is because business expenses are taken on in order to generate income.  They aren't discretionary spending like on movies, vacations and eating out.  They are expenses for supplies for the Airbnb and the mortgage on my rental properties.

June Business Spending:  $1,965
June Personal Spending:  $3,783

I'm comfortable with June spending.  I was able to keep Food at $360 ($12/day) because some of my meals are provided to me when I work meeting jobs.  On the flip side, when they aren't provided I am often stuck paying for overpriced hotel or restaurant meals.  I mitigated this by bringing food with me, including protein shakes for breakfast and shelf-stable tuna and chicken for lunch.  The biggest personal expenses include the mortgage on our home and health insurance, neither of which can easily be reduced.

June Expenses:  $5,748

$253 Auto (service, gas, insurance, AAA, etc.)

$0 Bank Fees
$125 Clothing/ Personal Care

$396 Fun (vacations movies, gambling, alcohol, concert tickets) 

$360 Food

$506 Health & Dental

$1,243 Household/Mortgage Payment/Home Repair

$0 Interest Expense

$108 Miscellaneous (Student loan overpayment)

$544 Taxes includes quarterly tax payments
$0 App Jobs Expenses (tolls, car washes, etc.)
$116 Unreimbursed Employee Expenses
$1 Reimbursed Employee Expenses

$248 Utilities
$1,141  Rental Property Expenses
$709 AirBNB Expenses

My Frugal Miser - June Income: $8,548

June was a great month for work, but two meeting jobs will be paid in July, which means my income looks artificially low.  I worked meetings in Orlando, Chicago, Buford, GA and Las Vegas.  When I was home, I did Amazon deliveries.

Rental income, $3,370, was offset by one of my old management companies recapturing rent they should have forwarded to the new owner for a townhouse I sold earlier this year.  All my rental properties are occupied with rent current.  Airbnb bookings were solid, with only one vacant day and three days I intentionally blocked from reservations. 

July is going to be a decent month, but meeting season has virtually stopped for me.  Last July I worked more meeting jobs.  The Airbnb is mostly booked except the last week of July.  We will be on vacation for a week later in the month so Amazon income will take a hit.

June Income: $8,548

$0 Mystery Shopping
$1,160 Meeting Jobs
$230 Gig Apps (Rideshare, Scooter Charging, etc.)
$703 Amazon Deliveries
$3,370 Rental Income
$3,021 Airbnb Income
$63 Interest Income

$0 Other Sources

Investment Accounts Change in Value:  $16,526

June was an amazing month for my stock investments.  I've been moving cash from stocks to CD's though because I feel the market has gotten expensive.  

My Frugal Miser - May Expenses: $14,180

May was another expensive month. 

Many of the expenses are associated with income.  For example, I spent $1,893 on our Airbnb in May.  Half of that was for property insurance.  Most of the remaining amount was for utilities.  Airbnb guests aren't nearly as frugal when it comes to running the air conditioning and using water.  Rental expenses of $1,251 include the mortgage on one on the properties and management fees.

Another line item, miscellaneous, wasn't even an expense, but I'll include it to be consistent with how I run the report.  I decided to pay off one of my two student loans last month. 

I'm happy with how much I spent on everything else except for the Fun category.  I spent nearly $6,000 prepaying for flights, hotels, and concert tickets for some of the travel we plan to do later this year.  We kick off our "fun" with a week in Costa Rica in July, followed by a quick trip in August to New Orleans for a concert and to Chicago in October for another concert.  Then there's China at the end of October.  Fortunately, the vast majority of the expenses for these trips has now been paid.

May Expenses:  $14,180

$325 Auto (service, gas, insurance, AAA, etc.)

$0 Bank Fees
$164 Clothing/ Personal Care

$5,762 Fun (vacations movies, gambling, alcohol, concert tickets) 

$474 Food

$506 Health & Dental

$1,377 Household/Mortgage Payment/Home Repair

$0 Interest Expense

$1,795 Miscellaneous (Student loan overpayment)

$400 Taxes includes quarterly tax payments
$0 App Jobs Expenses (tolls, car washes, etc.)
$29 Unreimbursed Employee Expenses
($34) Reimbursed Employee Expenses (income)

$238 Utilities
$1,251  Rental Property Expenses
$1,893 AirBNB Expenses